50 CARTHAMUS TiNCTORIUS. 



this caterpillar, and all the interesting details of its history, are 

 so fully described from the labors of Lyonnet and other natu- 

 ralists, that you will have read almost every particular con- 

 cerning it in the volumes upon Insects published in the " Li- 

 brary of Entertaining Knowledge." But here, Frederick, is 

 a plant which you will be pleased to see, the Acanthus,* so 

 celebrated in your classic reading. 



HENRIETTA. 



Oh! you refer, aunt, to the story of Callimachus, and the 

 invention of the Corinthian capital 1 



MRS. F. 



Virgil also makes mention of it; he describes the dress of 

 Dido, which had originally belonged to Helen, as being em- 

 broidered with the Acanthus.f 



ESTHER. 



What a brilliant orange this flower is! 



Carlhamus Tinctorius. 



MRS. C. 



That is the Carthamus tindorius, the Safflower or Saf- 

 franum of commerce, which is cultivated chiefly in Spain 

 and in the Levant. The flowers contain a yellow and a red 

 coloring matter; the latter only is used. Rouge is the red 



* Acanthus mollis. t Aeneid, b. i. 1. 649. 



